This is topic Merrie Melodies Projection Booth in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=004837

---

Posted by Will Kutler (Member # 770) on 10-06-2006, 01:59 AM:
 
Just a few minutes ago I cought a Merrie Melodies Warner Bros Toon on Turner Classic Movies.

Daddy Duck took Baby Duck to the movies. Baby Duck was being obnixous and disruptive. Daddy Duck got wacked by surrounding patrons. Daddy Duck then wacks baby Duck who then wonders off and ends up in the projection booth.

Pretty good projection booth anamation! Babby Duck messing with the projectpr. Pretty good rendering of Peerless Magnarc.

Not sure of the title, but it sure belongs in with Brad and Joe's Booth Training Videos!

Kutler
 

---

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 10-06-2006, 02:48 AM:
 
...along with Sherlock Jr. and Gremlins!
 

---

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 10-06-2006, 04:21 AM:
 
Will, I saw that too. What I thought was weird is when they showed the projector's insides, NONE of the gears meshed even though they were all turning!
 

---

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 10-06-2006, 10:43 AM:
 
In the 1941 film Hellzapoppin, there is a scene where one of the characters turns to the camera and calls up to the projectionist to backup so that he can try something again. The film cuts to Shemp Howard as the projectionist, who throws the Simplex Standard into reverse (not possible in reality) and backs up reality.

There was also a 1950's tv show called Pete & Gladis, an I Love Lucy knock off. One of the episodes had Gladis trying to set a friend of her's up with the projectionist from their town theatre. There is a sequence where Gladis talks him into letting her watch the booth (carbon arc/reel to reel) while he goes out on the date that is one of the funniest things I have ever seen.
 

---

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 10-06-2006, 11:22 AM:
 
The Merrie Melody projector must be one of those "gearless" type
 

---

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-06-2006, 12:40 PM:
 

quote:

---

There was also a 1950's tv show called Pete & Gladis, an I Love Lucy knock off. One of the episodes had Gladis trying to set a friend of her's up with the projectionist from their town theatre.

---

quote: Edwin Sheldon

---

How would you get the film to run nicely backwards through the control plate?

---

quote: Charles Greenlee

---

And why can't you put a projector in reverse

---

Simplex has a "PR" model that can do reverse in full speed (just can't remember the model number right off hand) ALSO, some models of Kinotones have the ability to run backwards as well.

16mm projectors were famous in going in reverse mode. You just have a spring belt up to the supply spindle to make that spindle do the takeup...

-monte
 

---

Posted by Kenneth Wuepper (Member # 1174) on 10-07-2006, 07:57 AM:
 
"Rock and Roll"

Those projectors used in the sound suites are capable of forward and reverse, frame accurate positioning and sync to several magnetic recorders and players. The magnetic recording material used is full coated film.

The hardware in the suites is awesome. The one in Detroit had both 16mm and 35mm capability. They did mostly commercials and documentaries along with some training films for industry.

The sound levels in there often approached 110DB.
 

---

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 10-07-2006, 08:11 AM:
 
Since this expanded to booths in films lets not forget the signature theatre film
The Smallest Show on Earth

also
there were 2 columbo episodes featureing changeovers as the clue to the murderers timing

Also there was a british film i think it was titled the family way ? which had a young couple that get married and move in with the parents and the husband is a projectionist

Also there was a film about a studio executive that seatured how he started ut with his projectionist and wife from a small theatre and move to hollywood and become a mogul (might have been the movie maker 1964)

Also the australian film
The Picture Show Man

Also one of the marlyn films had a shot of here watching a screen test from a both with motiograph K projectors

And 1941 had a booth with what must have been prototype mag penthouses

The Adventures of George the Projectionist (2006)

Cinema Paridiso
The Projectionist (2006)
The Inner Circle (1991)

and of course The Projectionist
 

---

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 10-07-2006, 08:25 AM:
 
Let's not forget Tyler Durden in "Fight Club" splicing in the frames of porn into the regular run features at the venue he was a projectionist at.

I love that movie.......
 

---

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 10-07-2006, 08:34 AM:
 
Some of 'Mr. Love' was shot in the box at the Phoenix, East Finchley, in the days when they still had Westars and Magnarcs. It's had a FP-20 with xenon and tower for as long as I've known the place, which must be only a few years after this film was made.
 

---

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-07-2006, 10:56 AM:
 
Simplex's rock n roll projector is the PR-1030 and is part of their studio line.

Kinoton's rock-n-roll projectors start with the "ER" series and continue to the ES and ECII. In short, any of the Kinoton studio series of projectors will go forwards or reverse...the ER is not necessarily a current offering is part of a cinema line...it used a lifting roller for the soundhead. A proper Kinoton studio soundhead decouples the flywheel so the drum won't scuff the film.

Steve
 

---

Posted by Edwin Sheldon (Member # 4001) on 10-07-2006, 12:44 PM:
 

quote: Dennis Benjamin

---

Let's not forget Tyler Durden in "Fight Club" splicing in the frames of porn into the regular run features at the venue he was a projectionist at.

I love that movie.......

---

As do I. However, the clip in the movie showed the audio in sync with the naughty frame, as if the soundtrack for the family film it was spliced into had had the porn soundtrack twenty frames away from the splice.

To pull off a Tyler Durden splice without it being super noticeable, you could pick a frame of porn that has similar light levels to the movie you are befouling. Using a scalpel, remove the picture area and bottom sprockets of the film. Splice in the picture area and bottom sprockets of your porn frame. No sound hiccup, no bright flash!
 

---

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 10-07-2006, 12:57 PM:
 
Would animating meshed gears be more difficult than animating non-meshed gears?

"Last Action Hero" with Robert Prosky as the projectionist.
 

---

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-07-2006, 02:00 PM:
 

quote: Gordon McLeod

---

there were 2 columbo episodes featureing changeovers as the clue to the murderers timing

---

Yes, sir! I absolutely love "Columbo". I'm collecting all the episodes on DVD.

The episode titled, "Double Exposure" is about subliminal cuts, and has long scenes inside two different booths -- a pair of AA-2's with Ashcrafts, and XLs with Magnarcs.

The other booth episode is, "Make Me a Perfect Murder", and has, I believe XLs with ORC 2500s. The AA-2 episode is available now, on the Season 3 set. Seasons 6 & 7 (combined) are due out in November, and contain the "Perfect Murder" episode.

Columbo DVD site.
 

---

Posted by Wayne Keyser (Member # 2420) on 10-07-2006, 04:38 PM:
 
Corman-produced HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD.

(The late) Candace Rialson is attending the premiere of her starring role in a cheapo "women in prison" movie (mostly starring her chest). Of course, it's on the bottom of a drive-in double feature, and she's getting royally drunk watching it with agent Dick Miller. She hates it, staggers into the booth and screams at the projectionist "take it off!". He looks at her ... looks at the screen with her topless picture ... looks at her ... and takes it as an invitation. When Miller comes to find her, she and the boothman are wrestling half-naked under a pile of tangled film.

Those were the days when they knew how to make a movie!

Director Paul Bartel to actor in Godzilla suit: "Your motivation in this scene is to stomp on as many people as possible."
 

---

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 10-07-2006, 05:10 PM:
 
See also this thread.
 

---

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 10-07-2006, 05:31 PM:
 
I remeber once on the elvira mistress of the dark tv serries there was a movie that featured a younge couple who took over a old theatre that was haunted by a phantom of the opera type projectionist who had been burned in a film fire
the new lower booth had a converted magnarc and a devry on a sword
can't remember the title
 

---

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 10-07-2006, 06:17 PM:
 
There was a short-lived TV series in the spring of 1987 called "the Popcorn Kid" - story evolving around the staff and mgmt of a big single house that was on the verge of being divided into a multiscreen cinema.

Booth entry was in the back of the snakbar area with a ladder access. The stage portraying the booth was quite interesting in as much as a non-functional booth. But it did show the machinery (a changeover house) using Century SA's with ORC portable model 2500 zenon lamphouses.

Projectionist was the usual brainwarped sort of fella who lives and breathes movies and has no life outside of the booth.

Yes, one has to see this link for "Smallest Show on Earth" to really understand the antics of owning your own cinema (in which the new owners are Travers and McKenna - of "Born Free" fame)
 

---

Posted by Tony Bandiera Jr (Member # 2365) on 10-07-2006, 07:28 PM:
 
I have converted several Simplex XL heads (The older NSS models, the new ones are crap!!) to run in reverse at 24fps. I actually had a pair that would run o.k at 30fps!!

It takes very careful alignment of the gate and trap assembly, using a studio gate with two or three pads. That and a few other tricks.

My machines run without film damage and without the stupid gate release that the new machines have.
 

---

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-07-2006, 09:16 PM:
 
So what is the oil doing during this reverse running on your machines? Also, what is the sound drum doing to the film in the reverse running operation?

"Try and FP30ES baby and you'll never go back."
 

---

Posted by Bernard Tonks (Member # 809) on 10-08-2006, 06:28 AM:
 
Worked in TV station that had 7 Philips 35mm FP-20 projectors which were all R&R for dubbing and transmission. All projectors could be interlocked, also with 8 RCA follower heads.

The old MGM Preview Theatre in London had Westar / Westrex R&R projectors.

The 1987 film “Wish You Were Here” featured the late Tom Bell and Emily Lloyd in the projection room of the old Dome Cinema, Worthing in Sussex. The equipment was Simplex E7 projectors, RCA sound with model 1041 soundheads, and Peerless Magnarc’s. The Dome is now being completely restored and refurbished with the 2nd screen which was opened for only a short duration before closure. The was also a very nice drinking den on the premises named 'The Projectionists Bar'.

The film is available on DVD in the UK & USA. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094331/
 

---

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 10-08-2006, 06:40 AM:
 
Don't forget The Omega Man where Charleton Heston runs a piece of Woodstock on a Peerless Magnarc! Louis
 

---

Posted by Rick Raskin (Member # 1561) on 10-08-2006, 09:48 AM:
 
Nick at Nite had a show called "Are You Afraid of the Dark" One episode had some kids working in a theatre where a mysterious Mr. Binks shows up with a film that comes to life on the screen. Clips from Murnau's "Nosferatu" were interspersed with new action. I don't remember the actual booth equipment but there was quite a bit of time spent there.
 

---

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 10-08-2006, 11:05 AM:
 
Yeah, never tried actually running ours in reverse, though if I sat down with it, looks like a standard capcitor start AC motor, I know how to rig those for reverse, since they are similar to the ones used in the pinsetters at my other job, just lighter. And I could figure the other problems, but without it being my own personal equipment, I'd never try that. I do want some equiment to tinker on sometime though. And Columbo tickles me sometimes, esp with his "And one more thing" bit. Yes, it's a bit before my time, so what?
 

---

Posted by Robert Throop (Member # 61) on 10-08-2006, 01:58 PM:
 
Responding to Eprad modifying Century projectors to run in reverse for their Sword system Larry Davee Century president said: "you can use a rope to pull a boat out of the water but you can't use that rope to push it back in".
What about "Clash by Night" with Robert Ryan running Centurys and Enarcs?
Bob
 

---

Posted by Cameron Glendinning (Member # 3516) on 10-08-2006, 04:59 PM:
 
Nice shots of a peerless magnarc, "Wish you were here" I think thats the the films title, its Brittish & features the lines Up your Bum repeatedly from a teenage girl.

Watching Columbo at the age of 14 seems to be the reason I became a projectionist, What was the name of the episode where the projectionist was murdered?

[ 10-08-2006, 09:26 PM: Message edited by: Cameron Glendinning ]
 

---

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-08-2006, 05:15 PM:
 
As I recall...Columbo botches the change over when the time comes too!

The was a made for TV movie called Rainbow that told the story of Judy Garland that showed her father in a projection booth.
 

---

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 10-08-2006, 06:46 PM:
 

quote: Tim Reed

---

You sure that wasn't The Honeymooners?

---

quote: Cameron Glendinning

---

What was the name of the episode where the projectionist was murdered?

---

Double Exposure, from the third season of "Columbo". Chuck McCann played the projectionist, no doubt, as a throwback to his lead in the movie of the same name a couple years previous.
 

---

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 10-08-2006, 10:51 PM:
 
I remember years ago a show called Mannix where he was in a screening room booth looking at some film frame by frame as part of an investigation.

I also remember the show Pete And Gladys from when I was a tot... yes, I was actually a tot at one time.

quote: Tim Reed

---

a pair of AA-2's with Ashcrafts

---

Tim,

That episode was shot in a screening room booth on Sunset Blvd. that was owned by Screen Gems. The booth there was huge and I recognized it the first time I saw it in re-runs. I tore that booth out quite a few years ago.

Mark
 

---

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 10-09-2006, 12:28 AM:
 
Oh, that's cool, Mark. I was going to pose that question, in the event someone knew where that booth was. I'd have guessed somewhere on the Universal lot.

There was another booth in that same episode: the "moonlight" job the projectionist had at the downtown theatre (where he was murdered by the heavy). This was the booth with the XLs and Magnarcs. Can't recall the name of the theatre shown in the establishing shot, but I wouldn't be surprised if the two were unconnected.

Btw, Mark... were the Ashcrafts still in place when you took the Sunset booth apart?
 

---

Posted by Charles Greenlee (Member # 3856) on 10-10-2006, 12:40 AM:
 

quote: Mark Gulbrandsen

---

I also remember the show Pete And Gladys from when I was a tot... yes, I was actually a tot at one time.

---